The present invention relates to a hydraulic circuit for a servo-assisted mechanical transmission.
Servo-assisted mechanical transmissions, which are structurally similar to manual mechanical transmission of the traditional type except for the fact that the clutch pedal and the gear selection lever operated by the driver are replaced by corresponding electric or hydraulic servo-controls, are increasingly widespread.
The clutch servo-control is generally of the hydraulic type and comprises a single hydraulic actuator for displacing the clutch from the closing position to the opening position and vice versa. Generally, the gearbox servo-control is also of the hydraulic type and acts on a gearbox control shaft to impress on the control shaft itself both an axial displacement, i.e. along a central axis, and a rotation about the central axis; the two movements of the control shaft are necessary to engage and disengage each gear and to select the range of gears to be engaged. Consequently, the gearbox servo-control comprises a first hydraulic actuator mechanically coupled to the control shaft to axially displace the control shaft and a second hydraulic actuator mechanically coupled to the control shaft to rotate the control shaft.
Each hydraulic actuator comprises at least one actuation chamber delimited on one side by a mobile piston, which slides along the actuation chamber itself and is mechanically connected to the member to be controlled. The actuation chambers of the hydraulic actuators are connected to a hydraulic circuit, which for each actuation chamber comprises a three-way solenoid valve which is adapted either to connect the actuation chamber to a hydraulic accumulator containing pressurized oil, or to connect the actuation chamber to a tank containing oil at atmospheric pressure, or to maintain the actuation chamber isolated.
In order to allow the operation of the system, the tank containing oil at atmospheric pressure must be pneumatically connected to the external environment, because it must aspirate air from the external environment when the electric pump aspirates oil and must introduce air into the external environment when the oil is discharged from the actuation chambers of the hydraulic actuators. Currently, the most common solution for pneumatically connecting the tank and the external environment is to obtain a through venting hole in a screw-on cap which closes a loading aperture of the tank; the loading aperture is used to initially fill the tank (and thus the hydraulic circuit connected to the tank) and for possibly topping up the oil present in the tank.
It has been observed that in the currently manufactured hydraulic circuits, oil may leak through the tank cap venting hole and drip into the engine compartment soiling the engine compartment itself. Furthermore, it has been observed that in the currently manufactured hydraulic circuits, impurities (typically dust and the like) may be aspirated into the tank through the tank cap venting hole and pollute the oil in the tank; such impurities are however blocked by the filter upstream of the electrical pump, but in the long run may cause an obstruction of such a filter determining a localized increase of the load losses with consequent overloading of the electric pump.